


LOOKING TOO CLOSELY

by DeanLantern



Series: HalBarry week 2018 [4]
Category: DCU, Green Lantern - All Media Types, Justice League - All Media Types, The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-16
Updated: 2018-02-16
Packaged: 2019-03-19 10:33:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13702686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeanLantern/pseuds/DeanLantern
Summary: Hal was close to dying when Guy saw it for the first time. Jordan had Barry Allen’s name on his skin but Guy knew for a fact that the Flash didn’t have Hal’s on his.HalBarry week 2018 DAY 5: AngstGRIEF or SACRIFICE or YEARNING





	LOOKING TOO CLOSELY

**Author's Note:**

> The (canon) character death in this is really just implied, so no worries. And I finally got to include Pearlstar (Carol/Jillian) in one of my fanfictions. :D No matter how brief it might be.

I

 

Hal was close to dying when Guy saw it for the first time.

He’d never intended to and it wasn’t as if he’d had a choice back then.

Jordan had Barry Allen’s name on his skin but Guy knew for a fact that the Flash didn’t have Hal’s on his.

Instead it was that of his wife Iris West which Barry proudly told anyone who couldn’t get away fast enough.

It wasn’t fair but it still happened from time to time. That you were born with someone’s name but they didn’t have yours. No one knew why it was happening in the first place just that it was thankfully quite rare.

He looked down at his own soul mate tattoo that was Tora’s name and he caressed it gently. He couldn’t even imagine what Jordan was going through with someone’s name who was already taken. No wonder he kept jumping from one person to the next when the person Hal’s soul belonged to didn’t belong to him in return. It must be hell on Earth.

After that, Guy started being much nicer to Hal. Sure they still fought and punched each other and Guy was still an asshole eight times out of ten but that was just how they showed each other that they cared. He would always have Hal’s back no matter what. Especially now that he knew that no one else was going to do the same in the end.

 

II

 

Bruce figured it out in the way that Batman always did. He did his research. But even he didn’t figure out until several months after meeting Hal. The Air Force and the other Armed Forces required everyone who worked for them, to name their soul mate’s name when they enlisted. So Bruce figured out that way after hacking into Hal’s old files when he tried to figure out who he was really working with. After finding out, he didn’t really feel pity for Hal. Bruce would have never allowed himself to. Hal Jordan made it almost impossible to pity him in any way with his big mouth and bigger ego. Instead Bruce felt some kind of respect for the man. Probably for the first time since they met. It now made sense that he kept throwing himself into danger far before anyone else since he didn’t have anyone to come home to. The Flash and Green Lantern had known each other long before the League had even come together for the first time so Hal must have known by then that Barry Allen would never be his to have.

_Bartholomew Henry Allen._

There was almost no doubt that it meant the Flash. Bruce fought down whatever feeling was crawling up his throat and closed the file he had on Hal. He had seen enough for today.

 

III

 

Hal and Carol kept coming together because Hal and Carol weren’t soulmates. To be honest, until Carol had met Jillian Pearlman, she had never even believed in such a thing as soulmates. Her parents hadn’t been and had been happy anyway. Then she had met ‘Cowgirl’ and everything had become different.

But until then Coral had mostly been with Hal who had tried to conquer his loneliness. That much she knew. Apart from his best friends Oliver Queen and Barry Allen, Carol probably knew Hal the best. She knew that Hal would never be really able to love her no matter how hard he tried anyway. He had already lost his heart to someone who would never give his own to him and was already happy with someone else. Not just once Hal Jordan had tried to transfer his feeling for Barry to Carol without much success. But maybe because she was just as lonely she had let him continue the charade and when he wasn’t running towards her she was running after him. It was better than being on your own both of them figured. But she knew that they would never be fully happy and satisfied with each other so she had turned Hal down when he had asked he to marry him. Shortly after she had met Jillian and had finally understood what was so special about having a soul mate. Now she could understand why Hal was so desperately trying to fill the Barry-shaped hole in his very soul with everyone he could find. Carol sometimes felt bad she had left Hal to deal with it all on his own.

 

IV

 

Oliver had held Hal before when he had cried and it had been one of the scariest moments of his entire life to hold a shaking and blubbering Hal Jordan against his chest. The man without fear, who never backed down and never showed defeat, had been destroyed by something as simple a soul mate tattoo that chained him to someone who would never appreciate him in the way he deserved.

This time around though, seemed the worst so far. Dinah was also rubbing Hal’s back in soothing motions to calm him down.

Neither of them told him that everything would be alright because they knew it never would be. Hal was in love with Barry who would never love him back. A few moments ago, Hal had admitted that he sometimes wished that Iris would die so that he finally had a chance with Barry. All of them knew that something like that would destroy the speedster in a way no one would ever be able to repair. The self hatred for his darkest wish had made Hal break out into sobs that he hadn’t been able to quiet down by now. Oliver was getting more and more worried by the day. This had to end or nothing would be left of Hal in a few years. It was the biggest reason why Oliver couldn’t stand Barry Allen. He was constantly hurting and breaking his best friend who was like a brother to him and didn’t even know he was doing it. Meanwhile, Hal kept crying and pressed his forehead against the name on his forearm.

 

 

V

 

During his life, Barry Allen never figured out that he was Hal Jordan’s soul mate. But for Hal there never was any doubt. He had been in love with Barry the moment he met him and when a searing pain shot through his arm in the darkness of space, Hal Jordan felt like he was dying right along with Barry Allen.


End file.
